So, is there any news from the army of Sharkies who attended the Salford game last night? Was the traffic as bad as suspected? Are they still trying to get out of the ground? Out of the carpark? On/off the motorway? Are they awaiting The Red Cross? NATO rescue forces?

I think that the majority are still queuing to get out of the ground and that those who escaped early have all thrown themselves off Barton Bridge after hearing the acutely embarrassing The Budgies synopsis and result!

No matter what you say, or how you say it, someone somewhere will deliberately go out of their way to be offended.

Travelled down from Bolton on the way to a family get together near Carrington. Cars were queing on Barton flyover at 18-30 to get into the ground and were queing at 22-30 to get off the ground. The attendence was 6750 ish.
Course, after recent performances, I wont be there next season, come to think of it, I wont be there for the remainder of this sason because I for one, have had enough.
Cheers

18.17 Left home
18.52 Joined M60 in Stockport
19.02 Left M60 at J11. Joined back of queue to roundabout, which was still (just) not back on to the main M60 carriageway
19.06 Joined A57 at roundabout
19.11 Parked in prebooked place, on rough ground maybe 200 metres from the stadium

Watched game. Salford 20 Wigan 40. Discipline seemed to cost Salford

21.47 Left seat immediately after end of match
21.52 Back to car.
21.53 Held at car park exit to allow pedestrians to disperse
21.55 Left car park
21.56 Joined A57
21.58 Joined M60 at J11
22.07 Left M60 at Stockport
22.32 Arrived home

I watched the Wolves Saints game from the Halliwel Jones. Looks very good since they filled in the corners. Wolves got truly stuffed.
As we seem determined to up sticks, how about the club getting in touch with the four or five most local RL clubs and hold games at each ground to see which works best! We could even change our name to the Cuckoo's.

--------------------------------------------------
Wigan "Home for the Bewildered"

Fully paid up member of the LSSSSC.
"Long Suffering Sale Sharks Supporters Club"

With the number of spaces available not too many will get one, and quite possibly with park and ride or walking for most it will take as long to get back to the car as you took to get home.

What is true, of course, is that it doesn't matter how many are there someone will get away sharpish which at the other extreme someone else will have the maximum delays at every turn. If the crush is bad it will almost certainly lead to more leaving early to beat it.

I couldn't resist noticing the price Salford paid for poor discipline (but also how good the handling was from both sides, even in heavy traffic).

I pre-booked parking on Wednesday evening and I don't think they had sold out (either that or they use the parking very inefficiently)

I had heard stories of loads of people leaving early to beat the jams which wasn't the case. Some did, but I got the impression that was more due to Salford getting well and truly stuffed (they were out of the game after about 15 minutes, and only made the score look as respectable as it does with a converted try at the very end)

They announced several times during the match that they would close the car parks at the end 'of tonight's event' to allow pedestrians to disperse and when I left the ground there was already a long queue of cars waiting to get out of the tarmaced car park just behind the west stand. They were being held by a line of stewards across the exit.

I walked across to the waste ground where I was parked (a couple of mins only), from which cars were leaving but, as I reached the exit, a steward held me for a few minutes to allow pedestrians to go by. When I was allowed out, I had a completely clear run, presumably because whatever traffic had left ahead of me had dispersed in the short while I was held.

I can imagine if Steven was parked at the far side of the tarmaced car park, he could have been a long way back in that queue, then held for some time while they closed the exit, and had to crawl out afterwards in a stream of several hundred cars, released on to the A57 five or six at a time by the traffic lights (could always do something about the sequencing?). Maybe that unpredictability's why so many seemed to be walking back to the Trafford Centre car parks? One of the local rugby clubs, or Barton airfield might also avoid problems if the exit from the stadium area is difficult.

I was in a car that has a permit for FRONT WEST STAND but was force directed to the north stand car park even when there were spaces in the west stand car park? Why? Then after the game I got in the car at 21.40 and was not permitted to move by some fool blocking all exits with cones until 22:25. 45 minutes?????????????? It's simply unacceptable.

As a Salford supporter I'm embarrassed to say the least about the car park situation and the d/cks that run it

And a response...

I was working on the carpark last night, and your ignorance and the ignorance of many many other fans is unbeliveable. how can you blame the attendants ? there is one entrance and exit out of the ground which is controled by traffic lights joining liverpool road. the ground safety officer gives the order the close the car parks at full time to stop idiots like last night driving like to$$ers across the pavement infront of the reception to get out faster. the carparks are still not finished yet, which again isnt the attendants fault. cones,chains and tape are in place to everyone in order and going out one exit. but the braindead people rip them down and make their own exits cutting in on others. making the whole situation worse. we only do our job the best we can to make up for the mistakes of planners and retard fans.

There are definitely issues. I'm going to the Salford-Hull KR match to see for myself on Easter Monday - afternoon kick off. Could be, er, interesting.

The car parking was pretty terrible at the ground last night, but as the steward above says what do you expect when you have one entry/exit road and traffic controlling lights, and a lot of a cars moving in the same direction.

On another note, as opposed to my normal route to Barton last night (Using the Eccles tram), I tried an alternative as I was travelling out from Manchester City Centre.

The X50 bus goes from Piccadilly Gardens and is a "Direct" bus to the Trafford Centre stopping at 4-5 stops (Old Trafford, Old Peel Offices, War Museum/Lowry) en route. Journey time was approx 25mins and was pretty hassle free. You then have the choice of walk/shuttle bus from Trafford Centre.

Regarding Sale's move to Barton, I was told by ticketing staff the Sale would be playing there next season. And additionally the Yellowboard had a thread a few days again regarding some chat on the Rangers board where it talked about BK and SCFC and said something along the lines of "In the future it would appear that Sale will be moving to share with Salford RL". Can't find the thread now though

Car parking situation last night was abysmal! Was coming direct from Manchester Airport, so scraped in about 19.40.

Joined the back of a queue on slip road from clockwise M60, but probably less than 10mins from motorway to parked up on the derelict waste ground/car park between the ground and Barton Bridge. £5 to park, can't really expect any less for parking at a ground, but there don't seem to be too many practical alternatives*

Had a free ticket to collect from a promotion or other and needed to buy one. Walked round to collection point, found needed to buy other ticket elsewhere to bought that from booth as directed, then came back and collected free ticket, then back to turnstyles to find we had one South and one East ticket. No problems, you can walk between the two stands (one terrace, one seats), but the frankly ridiculous thing was we had to go through separate turnsyles 250yds apart and then walk back to each other once inside the stands. Not a major problem, but seemed a little silly!

Plus point, stewards all seemed very friendly, even when just walking past a few said 'evening'.

First impressions inside the stands is there's a lot of space on the courses. And I mean a lot!! I've been in a lot of grounds around the world (football & rugby), and this is one of the most spacious. Thing is there's nothing in there but two breeze block walls and a tarmac floor, so felt rather like still being outside.

Didn't seem many catering outlets and there was no interior advertising, branding, displays, just bare walls. Outside is the same, but I guess this is in part due to them deciding who/if they are ground sharing, and then it could be sensibly co-branded.

Catering outlets were your usual fair, no pie, peas and mash though. That said the pie was excellent, although hotter than the sun. There weren't however many things to lean on/shelves, including the napkin dispenser being mounted on a wall nowhere near any shelving, which was helpful!

So from the bit of stand we were in could probably do with a bigger catering and a wider range. Not sure about in other stands but maybe a separate bar/food counter too.

Also was only apparent when we'd got onto the terrace that we hadn't passed any programme sellers, so wandered off and eventually bumped into one. Not sure if there static point of sales that we just missed?

In the ground, very bright, green pitch, four stands etc etc, just like a modern ground.

Two negatives, one the PA by us was inaudible, except for at half-time when the dance troupe were on when it went to the other extreme.

Other negative, the score board is appalling. They seem to have gone out of there way to fit the smallest and visible to the only half (at most) of the ground scoreboard and clock. Then again we're used to cr&p scoreboards!

And onto leaving...

...Final hooter went (well I presume it did) and we left, walked back round to car, back in and engine on at 21.45. Crossed over the mini-bridge back towards traffic lights at 22.35!

In between chaos. There seemed to be no direction from marshalls, although admittedly there were some on the tarmac area, so I did wonder whether priority was given to those parked there (VIPs?) with the unsurfaced, pay on the night area then dealt with.

On way in we'd come over a little wooden bridge on the gravel road, but this wasn't used for leaving. Similarly I noticed taxis coming into the ground, so the road out couldn't be used two-lane/one way as sometimes happens.

On the unsurfaced area though there were no cones, signs or barriers, so it just became a free-for-all with lines of cars all trying to find their way back towards the exit. I actually saw two Wigan fans helping to direct cars and trying to marshall people into queues, so get practising Sale fans!

Once we actually got moving (one queue was sent around the back of the ground, another onto and through the tarmaced area) it didn't take too long to get out.

Now having been to Grand Prixs, rallies, Wembley etc I understand that lots of people parked up together = queue. But to have no apparent plan or direction, and leaving it up to people's own minds as to what to do is a recipe for disaster, and I would have thought unsafe. I don't mind queuing through a sensible system, but this was just madness. Perhaps a decent traffic management company could be enlisted? There are enough out there, and I'm sure they could implement a more sensible system.

Other thing that annoyed me was when we progressed onto the tarmac car park near the astropitch there was a group of around 7 or 8 stewards/marshalls laughing and joking, with one or two holding hands up occassionally to let people cross. Unacceptable considering the mess 100yards away!

Home around 23.40, so about 1hr 10-15 later than would be from EP. Actually journey though isn't too bad, as at 22.45 at night the M60 is clear. I don't fancy the thought of trying to get the ground if there were problems on the M60/Barton Bridge though!

Overall, ground itself fine in a sort of 'yeah it's fine it could be anywhere' feel and way. Reminded me a lot of the Cardiff ground though!

As for whether I'd renew my season ticket, leaving aside costs, not until there's a sensible parking/transport plan in place (possibly the below), as I'm simply not going to waste an extra 1hr on a Friday night trying to get out of the car park each week. It's worth noting here the tannoy did suggest something about staying to have a drink, but I presume this was from the concourse outlets rather than in a proper bar? Obviously there isn't a bar/pub nearby that you could go and waste time in, plus this isn't something you would necessarily want to do at 10pm.

Hopefully some of that is interesting. If you read it all, congratulations!

* From a flyer left on the car (which I had plenty of time to study!) for the Easter Monday game there will be no on the night parking at the ground, instead there is free parking behind the Event Village at the Trafford Centre (next to Barton Square complex) and a £1 shuttle bus. Sounds a better alternative, but obviously dependent on number of buses and whether they are given priority access in and out of the Dumplington wastelands.

Whaley SharkOooh! Poor Steven.
They announced several times during the match that they would close the car parks at the end 'of tonight's event' to allow pedestrians to disperse and when I left the ground there was already a long queue of cars waiting to get out of the tarmaced car park just behind the west stand. They were being held by a line of stewards across the exit.

I walked across to the waste ground where I was parked (a couple of mins only), from which cars were leaving but, as I reached the exit, a steward held me for a few minutes to allow pedestrians to go by. When I was allowed out, I had a completely clear run, presumably because whatever traffic had left ahead of me had dispersed in the short while I was held.

I can imagine if Steven was parked at the far side of the tarmaced car park, he could have been a long way back in that queue, then held for some time while they closed the exit, and had to crawl out afterwards in a stream of several hundred cars, released on to the A57 five or six at a time by the traffic lights (could always do something about the sequencing?). Maybe that unpredictability's why so many seemed to be walking back to the Trafford Centre car parks? One of the local rugby clubs, or Barton airfield might also avoid problems if the exit from the stadium area is difficult.

whaley those tweets are mine (my id on twitter is @evnstevene) and your assumptions/ comments are, in the main, well wide of the mark. Thanks for the sympathy!

just to explain yes i was parked at the far end of the car park but left more 10 minutes prior to the end of the game with my friends to ensure I got away.

my main issue, annoyance and gripe is the organisation of the car parking and the stewards. if you are parked at the back end of the car park you have no clue which is the best way to get out of the car park. nothing is signposted, its a bit like wacky races and the stewards are obviously subcontracted from chocolate fireguard Ltd. I made it to the edge of the tarmac area of the car park before unceremoniously being cordoned off as the game finished to allow pedestrians to exit. I was then given no advice as to where to queue from there. then the wacky races started and I unfortunately picked the wrong queue along with a lot of other cars, hence my frustration. Just to emphasise the point when I finally got out of the car park after 10.30pm there were still loads of cars behind me. My view is with better signposting and better trained stewards the car parking would be better and wouldn't be the absolute disgrace it is at present. I would also point out there was around 6-7000 people there last night, imagine the same scenario with a 9000+ crowd.

In terms of the rest of the 'barton experience' I was actually very impressed. wasn't too difficult to get to the ground (although might be more of an issue around xmas!). the playing area is superb with plenty of playing surface compared to the more cramped EP. Atmosphere and catering was good, an upgrade, I thought, on EP. Lack of an equivalent 'shark tent' before the match was something which sale should look at adding if they move there. it would also make sense, with the car parking issues, to have something similar afterwards. Having grown up watching RL it was amusing the be back amongst RL fans, certainly the salford fans haven't changed!

I also think with exposed position of the ground the weather, esp the wind, will be a more significant element in matches.

My friends and I, have previously said we are committed to getting season tickets again next year even if we move, but we are now having a long hard think after last night. certainly I have learnt some dos and don'ts but I shouldn't have too, the parking is really badly managed. Certainly I would advise people driving to park outside of the 'local resident' parking restrictions and walk the mile or so to the ground and think long and hard about parking at the ground.

For the record I also (whilst in my stationery car!) had a number of twitter exchanges with other sale fans who, like me, were stuck in the car park well after whaley got away, so maybe, Whaley, you were lucky and in the minority? Mike Keegan from the MEN also had some not so nice things to say about the car parking planning at the ground on twitter.

It might be worthwhile the club having another look at their financial assumptions for the move if they are expecting bigger (or even the same) crowd. Certainly transport and parking should be a concern as to the expected attendances. I wonder if a number of season ticket holders next season may not renew and just pick their games until the parking situation improves or they can find a solution which suits them. Something for the powers that be to consider. It may not be, even with increased corporate facilities, the golden opportunity it seems unless they sort issues like this out. Corporates (being one of them on numerous occasions/ reasonably regular basis) like sporting events with big crowds and good atmospheres, not half empty stadia.

Group of One, I did promise to read your post and I did. I am not much of an expert on cars, but stopping and starting for an hour seems an expensive use of petrol. An hour sitting in the car, provided it's not midwinter, (i.e. During the Rugby League season) might be do-able with the engine stopped and something to read, or just an opportunity to discuss the game.

An hour with the car running, not so great.

Stevene. Your twitter postings made from your car, have again reminded me of the posting I made to this board whilst sitting on top of Barton Bridge on a Friday evening, eventually giving up and going to Salford Quays instead. There was no accident, no rugby match, just people going to the Trafford Centre after Christmas.

I'll be interested to see what the club says about arrangements if/when we're told we are moving

Amen to that.

Quote:

An hour sitting in the car, provided it's not midwinter, (i.e. During the Rugby League season) might be do-able with the engine stopped and something to read, or just an opportunity to discuss the game.

Not for me. I'm afraid. I can get home from EP in an hour of the game finishing - and that's a 50 mile journey. Also several games have been "discussable" in five or ten minutes.

Group of One I have read all your post too.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to comment on their experiences and so help to inform us what we might expect.

Strinesian SaleanianThread from the Salford Reds Forum about last night's car park problems.
It seems ridiculous/horrendous/pathetic - take your pick.

Some quotes:

I was in a car that has a permit for FRONT WEST STAND but was force directed to the north stand car park even when there were spaces in the west stand car park? Why? Then after the game I got in the car at 21.40 and was not permitted to move by some fool blocking all exits with cones until 22:25. 45 minutes?????????????? It's simply unacceptable.

As a Salford supporter I'm embarrassed to say the least about the car park situation and the d/cks that run it

And a response...

I was working on the carpark last night, and your ignorance and the ignorance of many many other fans is unbeliveable. how can you blame the attendants ? there is one entrance and exit out of the ground which is controled by traffic lights joining liverpool road. the ground safety officer gives the order the close the car parks at full time to stop idiots like last night driving like to$$ers across the pavement infront of the reception to get out faster. the carparks are still not finished yet, which again isnt the attendants fault. cones,chains and tape are in place to everyone in order and going out one exit. but the braindead people rip them down and make their own exits cutting in on others. making the whole situation worse. we only do our job the best we can to make up for the mistakes of planners and retard fans.

There are definitely issues. I'm going to the Salford-Hull KR match to see for myself on Easter Monday - afternoon kick off. Could be, er, interesting.

if the stewards/ people running the stadium signposted the exit route I would have followed it. I didn't know where to queue and neither did anyone else, hence (other) people cutting in etc etc.

Firstly
The traffic may be poorly managed in the car park but the fundamental cause is a set of traffic lights, 800 metres of single carriageway road towards Manchester and the Partington Roundabout. I expect 80-90%? go in that direction?
Pedestrians safety will always come first, so they will always be let out first, so there will always be a delay!
It's only the duration that is likely to alter a bit. However it just takes a lot time for all those folk to clear the ground and environ if almost all have to flow through a long bottleneck onto a reasonably busy A road.
The site has very poor limited road access. That is the problem.

Secondly
The stadium company owns and runs catering and drinks on -site. Presumably they take all the revenue perhaps giving a small percentage of profit to Salford Reds.
That is distinct from corporate hospitality where the club may get a larger share of revenue via the contract the club have been negotiating.
What makes anyone think SS will have any significant say in general catering, drinks or will provide a 'shark tent'?
I think it's wrong to assume things will improve or that it will change to the way we would wish.

Take Barton's facilities and catering as is, make allowance for teething problems and draw your own conclusions.

Thirdly
Shuttle services won't improve matters if they still have to go through the same bottleneck.
Whatever happens I expect that car park to be 3/4 capacity or more. Congestion will persist.

An hour sitting in the car, provided it's not midwinter, (i.e. During the Rugby League season) might be do-able with the engine stopped and something to read, or just an opportunity to discuss the game.

Not for me. I'm afraid. I can get home from EP in an hour of the game finishing - and that's a 50 mile journey. Also several games have been "discussable" in five or ten minutes.
.

Put like that I agree with you disagreeing with me. I did mean once or twice a season though.

Just another view - we used the park and ride from the Trafford centre - reasonably well signposted off Barton Dock Road. Parked up just about 18:50, straight onto waiting bus (£1 per person each way), which moved off after about five minutes, and took maybe six or seven minutes to get to the ground.

Left straight after the final hooter, straight onto a bus waiting in the coach bays at the beginning of the road out. Our coach needed to turn round in the circle, which was considerably hampered by a couple of taxis stopped in the turning circle (with nobody attempting to move them all, so some sympathy with the opinion that the marshalling wasn't fit for purpose), which lead to the bus having to reverse, which didn't seem such a good idea with all the people about. Little bit of queuing to get out, back to the car, and then onto the M60 clockwise at junction 9 at around 22:00.

So overall, worked very well for us. The park and ride seemed very much under-utilized - there was plenty of space for parking, but maybe only 40 or 50 cars there. Bus back was fairly packed, but it's a short trip. Not sure how many buses they had (at least two, because on arrival ours only moved off when another one arrived) but I guess there would be more if there was more demand. Going back to Warrington, got home earlier than we would for a kick-off 15 minutes earlier at EP.

and the X50 goes from Piccadilly Gardens to Trafford Centre
Timetable here

I previously mentioned the company who has the catering/hospitality contract (Azure Catering) at Salford Stadium. As far as I am aware this is for all events (Sport and Music) and not just Salford Reds matches, so Sale would not be able to make wholesale changes unless this has been agreed in the rental contract with Council/Peel/Stadium Company.

Just watching football league show,BLACKPOOL'S bloomfield rd ground looks great now finished.Only an hour max from stockport/sale/manchester/oldham/DUMPLINGTON,etc, no parking probs,lots of watering holes and fine food outlets,drop the wife and kids off at the pleasure beach,stay the weekend if the weather is good!
And what better place to be called the "SHARKS"

Well OK, we all knew car access would be crap. Far better informed people than I have been explaining it for months.

But what 'public transport', ie: buses, trains or trams. Has anyone tried any of these, obviously sometimes with long walks involved. I intend to start my own experiments soon and will report back to these columns!

The best thing about this move would be that all the kinks will be ironed out before we get there. Its a brand new stadium and im sure you wont forget trying to get into EP when you ruck up 5 mins before kick off without a ticket how long that takes.

I dont by the way, I have 2 premier business club tickets of course however I wish @corriganjock would get the beers in quicker sometimes.

ChopperThe best thing about this move would be that all the kinks will be ironed out before we get there. Its a brand new stadium and im sure you wont forget trying to get into EP when you ruck up 5 mins before kick off without a ticket how long that takes.
I dont by the way, I have 2 premier business club tickets of course however I wish @corriganjock would get the beers in quicker sometimes.

yup - the crowds will swell as they no longer have to ruck up 5 mins before ko without tickets.

But the really good thing about it is that you will be able to watch the start of the game from the bridge and then when you get there 20 minutes late you will be able to get your ticket straight away.

O/T "But the really good thing about it is that you will be able to watch the start of the game from the bridge..."

Several years ago the crowd at Fulham ignored the football to watch the Boat Race as it went past - a sort of reverse scenario. Mind you it was Tranmere they were playing so perhaps it was understandable.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net